Roughage mill



Aug. 18, 1925.

. P. sTRlcKLER ROUGHAGE MILL Fnd June 24. 1922 4 sheets-Sheet 1 ihm" ITIE- l Aug. 1s, 1925. .1,550,592

o. P. s'rRlcKLER ROUGHA'GE MILL Filed .June 24. 1.922 4 Sheets-Shee-t 2O. P. STRICKLER ROUGHAGE MILL Aug.1s,192s. y 1,550,592

Filed June 24, 1922 Y 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 g mmwboz 036er Sink/Wer;

Aug. 1s, 1925.

wwwboz Oscar fi Sfricb'lef;

4 Sheets-Sheet 4 O. P. STRICKLER ROUGHAGE MILL Filed June 24.1922

Patented Aug. 18, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

OSCAR P. STRICKLER, OF YORK, `PENNSYLVAN'IA, 'ASSIGNOR ,'IO YORK. FEEDMACHIN- V ERY COMPANY, OF YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ROUGHAGE MILL. Y

Appucationvled June a4, 1922. serial NoI 570,637. l

To all whomz'tvmay concern:

Beit known that I, OsoAR P. 'STRIGKLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at York, in the county of York and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented new and useful V,Improvements in Roughage rMills,v of which thefollowing is a specification. s K This invention relates to rou'ghageVmills and has for its principal object the construcf tion of fa mill forcutting dry roughage particularly such as has the characteristics of drycorn fodder, or for grinding any 'kind of grain into a coarse orgranulated meal.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a 'roughage mill soconstructed to have an output capacity greater, for the size of mill,than that ofthe ordinary friction Y grinding mills. f

Another object ofthe inventionis to proL vide a' roughage mill havingrotating knives cooperating with relatively fixed ycutters, the latterbeing however, yieldable to preventv Vjamming of the mechanism throughnon-'uniform feeding f of material between said knives and cutters.V

A further object of the invention .is the provision of a casing forminga receptacle in which is-journalled a cutting drum pro'- vided withknives, the lower peripheral wall ofthe casing being constituted vby aperforated screen having meshes of a size to deliver a product of theproper degree of lineness, and its upper side includinga concave memberhaving cutters coi-operating with the Arotating knives, said concavemember being so arranged as to be capable of slight universal movement,and also bodily fdisplaceabfle against a predeterminedl pressure torelieve the mill of the effects of overload when masses of excessivesize are carried between the knives and cutters. f A Still anotherobject`of the invention is the provision of emergencymeansforthrowing open theconcave memberv and simultaneously rendering the feeding mechanism in,-operative. A still further object of the inventionis the provision ofmeans providing for, the equal and accurate adjustment of the knives soas to bring themwithintrue 'cutting relation to the cutters.

Other objects will appear as the descrip; tion proceeds. f v

The invention will first be hereinafter described inoonnection with theaccompanying drawings, which constitute part of this specification, andthenrmore specifically defined in the claims at the end of thedescription.. v Y

In the accompanying drawings, wherein similar reference characters areused to designate corresponding parts vthro-ughout the several views:- lA Figure l is a side elevation partly in section of my improved roughagemill.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the same, parts thereof being broken away toshow the interior of the casing.

Figure 3 is an end elevation taken partly in section.

Figure 4 is a. side elevation of the reverse 'f side of the mill fromthat shown in Figure 1, sho-wing the operating mechanism.

Y Referring now `in detail to the several figures the numeral Yl'.represents a casting which is generally rectangular in shape at thebase, and provided with flat sides as shownat 2 in Figure 3. Theinterior of the v casting is hopper shaped, there being an opening 3 inthe bottom thereof to provideA an irregular outline which is indicatedinV Figure l at the points designated by the numeral l0. Said cast ironsides are spaced apart and braced by meansof the rigid bars 11, 12and18. Between the ianges 7 which extend inwardlyV from the opposite sidesof the casting is a removable screen'flli which is made with a mesh ofan appropriate size to permit the passage therethrough of roughage orvgrain meal ground to a desired fineness, and said screen isinterchangeable with screens of different mesh when the degree offine-ness of the ground roughage is to be varied. The screen 14 is heldin place against the lower faces of the flanges 7, by means of tie rods15, one for each flange, which lie beneath said flanges and :arepivotally mounted to the casting by means of the pins 16 the latterbeing xed to the casting and surrounded by a looped portion 17 of thetie rods. The ends of the tie rods opposite the pivotal connection Vpassthrough a plate 18 which rests transversely upon :the top edges of theupwardly extended portion 5 of the casting 1, each side Aof said platebeing provided with a projection 19 ,fitting in a recess in saidcasting. Nuts 20 threadedly engage the ends of said tie rods and areadapted to be tightened against the transverse plate 18. The screen 14lies between the flanges 7 and the tie rods 15 and when the latter aretightened the screen is firmly clamped into position. The plate 18likewise is securely held in place by the tensioning ofthe tie rodsthrough tightening of said nuts. When it is desired, for any reason toremove the screen 14, the nuts 2O are loosened, the plate 18 raised sothat the projections are unseated from the recesses, and the platebodily moved over to the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 1. Thetension upon the tie rods having thus been loosened the screen 14 may bepulled out from between the .flanges and tie rods and another screensubstituted therefor.

The transverse plates 11, 12 and 13 and the screen 14 form adrum-chamber Yor receptacle `in which is mounted the rotating element ofthe roughage mill. This comprises a knife-carrying drum 21 whichincludes a hollow casting having end headers 22 and a peripheral portion23 oined thereto and having the peculiar shape shown .in Figure 1. Thisperipheral portion comprises a series of knife seats with pocketsadjacent thereto, said knife seats comprising the angularly disposedflat faces 24 and 25, the former being bored and threaded as at 26 forthel reception of the knife securingfbolts 27. The knives 28 areelongated blades as shown in Figure 3, beveled on their oppositelongitudinal edges 29, Figure 1, and held in place between the flatshoulder 24 and a detachable plate 30 by means of thebolts 27. The endsof said knives project slightly beyond the sides of the drum and arenotched as shown at 31 in Figure 3, providing a tool engaging mea-ns forsaid knives, in the act of adjusting' the latter when the bolts27 areloosened. The double bevel 29 `permits the knives to be reversedpresenting a new cutting edge when the. old one has become worn.

The upper part of the drum-chamber between the plates 12 and 13 is open,and provided with a removable closure 32 which is concave in form andconstructed in two parts, an outer part 121, of cast iron and an innerpart 122 of hardened steel bolted thereto by means of the bolts 123, thelower surface of which being curved in the form of a circle and havinggrinding points 33 constructed thereon, and coopera-ting with the edgesof the knives 28. The grinding points have V-shaped apexes the points ofwhich are presented in the direction in which the roughage is fed intothe mill. The concave member 32 is provided with extending ends 34 and35 which overlap the plates 12 and 13 and are provided with set screws36 which abut against the plates 12 and 13 and form means for adjustingthe distance of the grinding points 33 from the edges of the knives 28.Said set screws also function as limit vstops -t-o prevent the concavemember '32 from moving inwardly into the path of rotation of saidknives.

On its outer back surface the concave member 32 is provided with spacedupstanding lugs 37 and 38 each provided with a slot 39 through whichextend the angular ends 40 of the lever arms 41, Figure 2, the latterbeing secured to a shaft 42 journalled in bearings in the opposite sidesof the sheetmetal members 8 and 9. The angular ends 40 are smaller insize than the slots 39 through which they extend so that the concavemember 32 is capable of a limited up and down movement with respect tothe angular ends 40, and also slight sidewise movement, both of saidmovements imparting to said concave member a slight universal freedom ofmovement. This provision is made to prevent jamming of the mechanismshould larger pieces of roughage than lthe machine is set to handle beintroduced between the knives and grinding points. A lever arm 44 issecured t-o the middle of the shaft 42 above theconcave member 32,bearing against an upstanding lug 125. Said lever carries an adjustableweight 45. It will thus be understood that the concave member 32 isalways maintained in closed position by a predetermined pressure equaltothe weight 45 and variable by sliding said weight along the lever arm44, and that it is capable of slight rocking movement transversely aboutsaid lever as an axis to an extentrpermitted by the slots 39. Theroughage is therefore ground between the knives and :the grinding pointsunder a uniform pressure determined by the mass and positionof saidweight and when a quant-ity of roughage in excess of the capacity of thegrindingelements is drawn between the latter the `concave member risesagainst the pressure of said weight permitting the passagethereby ofsaid roughage. V

In order to facilitate the adjustmentof the knives 28 with respect to.thegrinding points the cast ironsides are provided with recesses 46 inFigure 1 onoppositegsides of support.

the mill for the reception of a 'knife gauge. This knife gauge is notshown in the drawings but may be a simple straight `edged member capableof seating` accurately upon the bottomsof the recesses 46, and againstwhich the edges of the knives 28 are aligned before tightening the bolts27. In order to insert the gauge in the bottoms of said recesses, it isessential that the concave member 32 be turned back, this being donethrough means, hereinafter to be described.

The space between the plates 11 and 12 forms a feed opening for theroughage mill, adjacent which is arranged the feed chute 49 which isrectangular in form as shown in Figure 2, and is pivotally supportedupon the rod 50, which* extends transversely of said chute and iscarriedl at the top Yof the vertical uprights 51 the latter being bentangularly at their ends as shown at`52 in Figure 2 and being secured toa stationary At its forward and back ends the chute is provided withshafts 53 and 54 on which are mounted the rollers 55 and 56 aroundwhichpasses the belt conveyer 57. Uncut roughage is intended to be thrownupon this conveyer, with the ends of the stalks preferably presentedlongitudinally thereof and is carried thereby into the mill the feedingbeing assisted by the upper feed roller 58, shown in Figure 1, saidupper feed roller andthe conveyer being. driven by positive meanspresently to 'be described;

It will be observed that the belt conveyer is imperforate throughout thecourse traversed by the material to be cut on its way to the cuttingdrumvthere being no cracks or interstices, through which smallparticlesmay drop, making 'the' conveyer adaptable for the feeding ofsmall grains as for roughage.

In order to provide for uniform pressure upon the feed' as it is drawninto; the mill the chute 49 is constructed on its under side with a pairof extending lugs 59 through which passes a shaft 60, a bell crank lever61 .being journa-lled upon said shaft. The other end of the lever ispivota-lly mounted upon a shaft 62 carried by the extended end 4 of thecasting 1. The other end 63 of said bell-crank lever is weighted asshown at 64V the chute 57 being pressed upwardly by said weight. By thismeans the rollers 55 andv 58 are brought closer together or separatedwhen variations occur in the thickness ofthe The mechanism for operatingthe rough age mill is best shown in Figures 3 and 4. The knife-carryingdrum 21 is mounted upon a shaft 66 which rest-s in lower halfbearings 67and 68, theV latter being secured tothe side plates 8 and 9. The upperhalfbearings 69 and 70 are secured to the lower' half-bearings by meansof bolts 71, but are not fastened to anything else. On the outer end ofthe shaft 66'the pulley 72 is mounted from which the power to operatethe roughage mill is derived. A smaller spur geary 73 is keyed to theopposite end of the shaft 66, which is constantly in mesh with the largegear wheel 74 the latter being splinably mounted upon a shaft 75. Theshaft is slidably carried in bearings 76 and 77 said bear`- ings beingrigidly supported with respect to a. stationary part of the roughagemill. Loosely sleevedupon the shaft on opposite sides of the gear wheel7 4 are the hubs 8G and 81, bearingthe sprocket wheels 78 and 79, saidhubs being restrained from endwisemovement on said shaft'by being inspectively. rlhe hubs 80 and 81Y are'furynished with clutch depressionscapable of being engaged by the key 86, when theshaft 75 is slid in onedirection orthe other. hub- 84 of the gear wheel 74 has flat Vfacesadjacent the clutch faces of the hubs and is held from Vsubstantialendwise movement by the proximity of said clutch faces to its flatfaces. Y

The gear wheel 74by being constantly in mesh with the gear 73 is alwaysdriven' in the same direction vand by being splinably mounted on saidslidable shaft 75 it may be brought intoengagement with either of thesprocket wheels 78 or 79 or be permitted to assume a neutral positionout of engagement with either of said sprocket wheels. operating theshaft 7 5 aV handy lever 88 is provided pivotally mounted as at 89 upona stationary support and carrying a perfo rated lug 90 which looselysurrounds a reduced portion 91 of said shaft so as to permit slightangular movement of said lever relative to said shaft. A collar92'pinned to the end of said shaft holds said lever in place. By movingthe lever 88 in one direc- The tion or the other a sliding movement isimparted to the shaft 75 and to the 1key 86 placing it into clutchingengagement 'with the gear wheel 74v and with either of the sprocketwheels, or in neutral position.

' The gears 93 and 94 are respectively secured to the outer ends of theshafts 53 and vstub shafts 98 and Y 99 carrying sprocket wheels 100 and101 respectively.r The sprocket wheel 100 is connected with the Forsprocket wheel 78 by means of the chain 102 130 and the sprockets 79 and101 are similarly connected by means of the chain 108. Wfl/Then the gearwheel 7 4 is in clutching engagement with the sprocket wheel i 8 thelatter is driven in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 4, drivingthe shaft 98 and the gear 96 which is attached thereto in a clockwisedirection and imparting a counter-clockwise movement to the gear wheel98. rt the same time a gear wheel 104 which also is mounted upon theshaft 98 meshes with the gear 97 on the shaft 99, rotating the latter ina counter-clockwise movement to the gear wheel 94. This direction ofmovement to the gears 93 and 94, acts to feed the roughage into themill. During this phase of movement'of the operating mechanism thesprocket wheel 7 9 rotates freely on the shaft in a counter-clockwisedirection, being impelled by tne chain 108.

lffhen the lever 88 is thrown so that the gear wheel 7 4 clutchablyengages the sprocket wheel 's' 9 the sprocket wheel 101 is rotated in aclockwise direction by the chain 103. This imparts a directcounter-clockwise movement to the gear wheel 94 and an indirectclockwise movement to the gear 93 through the gears 96 and 104 which aremounted on the shaft 98. This reverses the direction of the feed,drawing the material away from the mill.

Notwithstanding the constructional expedients herein provided forpreventing the jamming of the mill mechanism, it is inevitable thatsometime something will be introduced between t-he kni es and thegrinding point, in the nature of foreign bodies such tools, rocks etc.carelessly fed in with the roughage, which will interrupt the operationof the inill. For the quick elimination of such objects an emergencymeans is provided consisting of the hand lever 105, fixed to one end ofthe shaft 42 upon which are carried the lever arms 41 which support theconcave memben 82. llfhen a stoppage of the machinery occurs this levermay be manually thrown toward the left, as viewed in Figure 1, instantlyopening the concave member 82 which is capable of swinging to an extremeposition shown in dotted lines at 100 in Figure 1. Simultaneously withthe swinging open of the concave member the key throws the gear wheel 7into clutching engagement with the feed reversing mechanism by means ofthe bell-crank lever 107, having an arm 108 thereof engageable with theend of the shaft 75. Said bellcrank lever is pivotally connected at 109to a bracket supported by the side of the roughage mill. The oppositeend of the bellcrank is provided with a groove 111 in which is looselyseated an operating rod 112 the upper end of which makes pivotalconnection as at 113 with a crank 114 on the end of the shaft 42. Inorder to prevent the opening of the concave member 32 by normaloperation of the lever 88 the npper end Vof the operating rod 112 isslotted as at 115 in Figure 4 providing a lost motion through which theoperating rod may freely reciproate when the lever 88 is moved.

The side plates 8 andY 9 ofthe roughage mill are cut away as shown inFigure 2, forming sector shaped openings 116 extending from the upperedge of said side plates to the lower half-bearings 67 and 68 in whichthe shaft G6 is mounted. rlhe edges of the side plates adjacent thesecutaway portions have secured thereto t-he flanged frames 117 and 118 asin Figure 2, the flanged 4portions of said frames cooperating with theedges of the side plates to form channels in which are seated the edgesof the sector shaped members 119 and 120. These members are removablefor the purpose of permitting the withdrawal of the knife-carrying drumwith its shaft from the drum chamber, and to render visible theclearance between the knives 28 and the grinding points, sol that theset screws 86 may be manipulated to adjust the concave member 82 tosecure the proper clearance.

ln the operation of this device, the roughage which, as hereinbeforestated, is in general of the character of dry corn fodder, is placedupon the conveyer belt 57 and drawn into the drum-chamber by means ofthe feed rollers 55 and 58 rotating in a forward direction. As it entersthe druin-chamber the roughage is engaged by one of the knives 28 andcut into short lengths which fall into the concave pockets and are thenthrown out by centrifugal force into contact with the grinding points onthe under surface of the concave member 82. Here they are engaged by theknives which cooperate with the grinding points to cut the roughage intosmall particles. As the roughage is carried around in the pockets of theknife-carrying' drum it is thrown againstthe screen 14 by centrifugalforce, and if fine enough to pass through the screen lit is forcedoutwardly into the hopper formed by the casting 1 and finds its way bygravity into an appropriate receptacle placed beneath the grinding mill,preferably upon the floor below. Moving of the weight 45 along the lever44 regulates the pressure of the latter upon the concave member andcontrols'the degree of fineness of the ground product. Material which`is not of sutlicient fineness to passthrough vthe screen is carriedaround in the pockets and again thrown against the grinding points to beacted upon a second time by the'knives 28 and the proce-ss is carriedonfuntil all of the roughage is properly ground. 'i

Having described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is i 1. A roughage mill comprising a receproll towardthe roll having the fixed axis,

and means for positively operating said rolls.

2. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting elementsmountedl in said receptacle, means forming a part of the wall of saidreceptacle and provided with grinding points cooperably arranged withrespect to said cutting elements, said means being mounted for slightuniversal movement with respect to said cutting elements.

3. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting elementsmounted in said receptacle, means forming a part of the wall of saidreceptacle and pro-vided with grinding points cooperably arranged withrespect to said cutting elements, said means being mounted for slightuniversal movement with respect to said cutting elements, and adjustablestops on said means to limit its inward movement toward said cuttingelements. l

4. A roughage mill comprising agreceptacle, rotatable cutting elementsmounted in said receptacle, means forming a part of the. wall of saidreceptacle, carrying grinding points cooperably arranged with respect tosaid cutting elements, lugs projecting exteriorly of said grinding pointcarrying means, said lugs being provided with perforations, meanscarried by said roughage mill and extending through said perforatio-ns,said means being sufliciently smaller than said perforations to permit,movement in all directions of said grinding point carrying meansrelative to said cutting elements.

5. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting element-smounted within said receptacle, means forming a part of the wall of saidreceptacle and carrying grinding points, lugs extending exteriorly ofsaid grinding point carrying means and provided with perforations, ashaft carried by said roughage mill, arms secured to said shaft havingportions thereof extending through said perforations, said extendingportions being of sufficiently smaller dimensions than saidperforationsto permit slight movement in all directions of said grindingPoint Carrying means, and means associated.

'withY said shaft toimpose anormal limit to the V'opening movement ofsaid `grinding pointca'rrying means.

6. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, rotatable cutting elementsmounted in said receptacle, means forming. a part of the wallVA of. saidreceptacle Aand carrying grinding points, vlugs 'projecting "exterior'lyffro'm' saidgrinding point carryingmeanS,said lugs being provided withperforations, a shaft carried by said roughage mill, arms secured tosaid shaft and having portions thereof extending through saidperforations, said extending portions being of sufciently smallerdiamensions than said perforations to permit slight movement in alldirections of said grinding point carrying means, a weighted leversecured tosaid shaft for imposing a normal limit to the opening movementof said grinding pointJ carrying means and manual means for rotatingsaid shaft in opposition to the weight of said lever for opening saidgrinding point carrying means.

7. A roughage mill comprising a receptacle, cutting elements rotatablymounted in said receptacle, meansforming a part of the wall of saidreceptacle and carrying grinding points, said grinding point carryingmeans being mounted so as to permit slight universal movement withrespect to said cutting elements, a shaft mounted upon said roughagemill, arms carried by said shaft and associated with said grinding pointcarrying means to limit the universal movement thereof, means forpressing said grinding point carrying means toward closed position by apredetermined pressure, manually operable means for opening saidgrinding point carrying means, a feed device for said roughage mill,means for operating said vfeed device and means actuated by saidmanually operable opening means for reversing the feed device operatingmeans.

8. A roughage mill comprising a casting forming a hopper, side wallssecured to said casting and extending aboveit, a screen mounted withinsaid casting and forming with side walls a receptacle, a drum rotatablymounted within said receptacle, cutting elements carried by said drum,said drum being provided withy pockets between said cutting elements, agrinding lpoint carrying element forming a part of the wall of saidreceptacle and provided with grinding points, a feed device forsupplying roughage to said roughage mill, said drum functioning to throwsaid roughage Vinto contact with grinding points by centrifugal force,to collect the ground roughagein said pockets and to throw it againstsaid screen by centrifugal force whereby the finely ground portions areexpelled into said hopper and the insufficiently ground portions arereturned t0 .Saud grinding pomts soY 9., A roughage mill comprising areoepmovement in all directions With respect to ta'lol'e, rotatablecutting elements mounted in said cutting elements, adjustable stops onl0 said receptacle, means forming a part of the said means to limit itsinward movement Wall of said receptacle and provided With toward saidcutting elements. grinding points cooperably arranged With 1n testimonywhereof I have hereunto set respect to said cutting' elements, saidgrindmy hand. ing points being detaehably secured to said means, saidmeans being mounted with slight OSCAR P. STRICKLER.

